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Hunter Ensley in lineup as designated hitter for Vols vs. Florida State  

On3 imageby:Eric Cain•06/19/24•

_Cainer

Syndication: The Knoxville News-Sentinel
Tennessee's Hunter Ensley (9) at bat during the NCAA college baseball game against UNC Asheville in Knoxville, Tenn. on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. Ut Baseball Vs Unc Asheville

OMAHA, Neb. — Three days after exiting Tennessee’s 6-1 College World Serirs win over North Carolina after making a spectacular catch on the run that ended with a hard smack into the left-centerfield wall, Vols outfielder Hunter Ensley is back in the lineup for UT.

Instead of manning his usual centerfield position, though, the junior will be the club’s designated hitter on the day while giving way to Kavares Tears in center. Ensley is still hitting in his usual No. 5 spot in the lineup, however.

The lineup for Tennessee in its College World Series rematch with Florida State on Wednesday afternoon is the normal five at the top with Christian Moore (2B), Blake Burke (1B), Billy Amick (3B) and Dylan Dreiling (LF). Ensley is at designated hitter is followed by Kavares Tears () in sixth and Dean Curley in seventh. Reese Chapman (RF) and Cal Stark round out the starting nine for the Volunteers in the contest.

Ensley was removed from Sunday’s 6-1 win over North Carolina in favor of Colby Backus to begin the fifth inning. The junior made hard contact with the centerfield wall after making a web gem of a catch on the run on a drive off the bat of Anthony Donofrio to begin the second inning.

The outfielder got up in a hurry showing plenty of emotion after making the highlight reel catch. He remained in the game in the second inning, though he could be seen grabbing his hamstring throughout the rest of the frame while standing in the outfield.

The veteran lined out in the following half inning at the plate and returned to play the field the next two frames. After striking out in the bottom of the fourth on a lengthy at-bat, Ensley could be seen limping back to the dugout.

“A little bit of an easy answer being day-to-day. Definitely better today than he was on Monday. It was good for the guys to earn a day of rest or kind of our recovery days, what it’s been ever since Hoover on Mondays and then back to work today,” Tony Vitello told the media on Tuesday. “And he was involved in everything, but you know, I don’t know if he could have gone full speed, but he was cautioned to not go full speed through everything. So, he did everything that our guys did. Just not as much as, you know, he might normally do.”

Ensley has been fantastic for the Vols the last two months of the season. He singled against Florida State on Friday and combined for five hits over the first two super reginal games against Evansville last weekend. He tallied four hits in the Southeastern Conference Tournament title game against LSU and logged three-straight multi-hit days in the Knoxville Regional.   

On the season, the centerfielder is hitting .286 on the season with 11 home runs and 45 runs driven in.

The No. 1 overall seeded Volunteers lock up a College World Series Finals spot with a win on Wednesday over Florida State. It would be the first CWS Finals appearance for the Vols since finishing national runner-up in 1951.

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